The Captain's Story
by rizon72
Summary: Captain Kosaku Aruga and his encounter with the witches of the 501st. Set during the movie.


**The Captain's Story**

by rizon72

Captain Kosaku Aruga peered outside the windows of the bridge into the heavy fog surrounding the ship. Reports came in from the lookouts watching the river as the battleships Yamato slowly made its way looking for Neuroi, so far, nothing. He felt relieved at that, but the fog made navigation difficult.

Gallia had requested a warship to patrol the river, and the Fuso navy volunteered the Yamato. Adding floats to the sides decreased its draft allowing the ship to patrol the river for Neuron without scraping the bottom.

He looked over seeing a young woman walk onto the bridge, Major Sakamoto a former member of the 501st Strike Witches. The squadron became famous in their defeat of two Neuroi hives.

"Anything captain?" she asked, looking out the window herself.

"No, and that's a good thing," Aruga replied, they both understood that. However recent reports of attacks by the Neuroi in places they should not have been concerned them all.

"Con, radar, two inbound craft," he suddenly heard.

"What?" he said, before training took over. "Sound battlestations!"

The Yamato went to battlestations as klaxons sounded all over the ship. Men ran to their stations even as the lookouts strained to look through the fog.

"Odd," he heard Sakamoto say, even as she looked out the window.

"What is?' he asked, nervous about fighting a Neuroi without any witches on board.

"The Neuroi are usually not active in such weather," Sakamoto stated as she stepped outside the bridge. Aruga followed, below he noticed sailors running to their stations, nervous energy flowing all around as gun mounts started to swivel.

He paused hearing a familiar sound and looked over at the major, who also heard it.

"That's not a Neuroi," she said, confirming his suspicion.

"Right off the bow," a shout said, causing Aruga and Sakamoto to look forward. He stared in shock as two witched seemed to materialize out of the fog.

"Witches," he said.

"Captain, incoming communications."

They both hurried inside to the radio listening in.

"This is Lieutenant Eila Juutilainen of the Suomus Air Force to unknown warship," he heard the voice say.

"Eila," Sakamoto said, picking up the radio.

"Major?" the confused voice of Eila came back.

"Why don't you come aboard," Sakamoto said, "we can talk and the Yamato can return to normal duties."

"Okay," Eila replied.

"Inform the hangar to prepare for two witches," Aruga said, watching as an ensign relayed the order to the hangar. He turned back to look at Sakamoto. "You know them?"

"They were part of the 501st," Sakamoto said. "But why are they here? Last I heard they were operating with the 502nd."

Aruga merely nodded before following the major down to the hangar where two witches were stepping out of their strikers. One had long blonde hair with a Suomus uniform, he assumed she was Eila, the other, short gray hair, wearing an Orussian uniform.

"We'll take good care of them," one of the mechanics said to the blonde.

"Eila, Sanya!" Sakamoto said.

"Sakamoto, what are you doing here, and what's this ship doing here?" the one called Eila said.

"I'm helping out the Fuso navy as an advisor, the Yamato is patrolling the river for Neuroi. The witches are spread out thin at the moment," Sakamoto replied back.

"I can offer you two accommodations," Aruga said, privately hoping they would accept.

"It's a bit cramped, the Fuso navy designers are not known for luxury," Sakamoto said.

"It's the best in the fleet," Aruga said with some pride.

"I guess so," Eila said as they walked into the ship. Aruga led them to the quarters which had been set up specifically for witches, if any served on board.

"Why are you here, last I heard you were with the 502nd?" Sakamoto said.

"We're looking for Yoshika," Sanya said, her voice quiet and Aruga almost missed what she said. He knew of Yoshika, the witch who had done so much, a national hero. Rumor was she lost her powers in her last engagement with the Neuron, the same battle Major Sakamoto lost hers in.

"Yoshika? Is she in trouble?" Sakamoto said, concern in her voice.

"Ah," a slight laugh from Eila. "No, she's visiting Gallia, about to go to school over here, got in due to the military."

"Oh, so you're going to visit her?" Sakamoto said.

"Sanya asked me to look into her future, something ominous came up and, well, we decided to check it out," Eila said.

They arrived at the quarters, and Aruga excused himself to head back to the bridge of the ship. He felt relieved to see normal operating procedures taking place after the excitement earlier.

"Nothing like some excitement, the crew responded well captain," his first officer said. "All stations reported to battelstations in a few minutes."

"Excellent," Aruga said.

"So, we have a couple of witches on board?" the question came.

"Yes, seems like Major Sakamoto knows them," Aruga said.

"I'm glad."

Aruga had to agree, with the witches they had a better chance to defend themselves from any Neuroi.

He watched as the morning fog burned off, before retreating to the mess hall to grab a bit to eat. He spotted the major along with the two witches and walked over.

"It's weird not seeing you with an eye patch," he heard Eila say.

"Well, with my magical powers gone, I no longer need it," Sakamoto said, a bit of wistfulness in her voice. "Captain, any news?"

"The fog's burned off, visibility is now almost unlimited," he said. "Where are you two headed?"

"Thought we might head into Gallia, see what is going on here," Eila said.

Aruga shook his head at that. Witches could be so fickle regarding such things. He heard of some who roamed around, going where they were needed, others stayed put.

He took a bit of his food when the klaxons went off again. He silently cursed the alarm but ran to the bridge along with the major and the two witches. Arriving at the bridge he pause seeing the mass of excitement going on.

"What's the situation?" he asked.

"Radar is reporting a large number of unknown targets to the west," the reply came, as he grabbed a pair of binoculars. He looked on focusing on the sky until he saw it, a black cylindrical shape, knowing what it was immediately.

"Neuroi," he heard the major say next to him.

"They've crossed the river," he said. "Get a communications back to HQ, they'll want to know this."

"Yes sir."

"You two should prepare to launch," he said at the two witches.

"I'll go up too," Sakamoto said.

"Sir, we're being jammed," communications said.

"What?" Aruga asked, concerned now about the situation. If they could not inform HQ about the situation then no reinforcements could be brought forth.

"Whatever is going on, our communications to HQ is jammed," the reply came back.

"Battlestations," he ordered, watching the crew once more race to their stations all over the battleship. "Communications keep trying."

He looked back towards the stern of the mighty warship. He could see the crew racing to put the witches on the catapults and one of their seaplanes rising up out of the hangar. A crane working to maneuver it into place as weapon mounts all over the ship swung into place waiting for orders to engage the enemy.

"Sir, receiving a message, shall I put it though?"

"Yes," Aruga said, knowing that the witches and Major Sakamoto would want to hear it.

"Somebody, save flight officer Miyafuji!"

Aruga knew he heard that name somewhere, but where?

"Catapult one launch!"

He turned to see one of the witches launching, followed quickly by the second one, then the float plane. He thought he saw something like a bomb under one of the wings, but pushed it from his mind. He turned back to listen as the communications suddenly came to life. Several were asking about Mayifuji and Yoshika, and he realized who they were talking about.

Yoshika Mayifuji, a witch from the 501st Strike Witches, and one who lost her magic along with the major in the defeat of the Neuroi hive near Romangna. A shout caused him to turn and spot a magic circle activation, one of the largest he ever seen.

There was a witch over there, he knew it. Even as he looked he spotted a ring of Neuroi craft forming up above the witch. She would have no time to take off.

"All batteries, commence firing, attack the Neuroi!" he ordered, watching the orders relayed to the proper people. Seconds later the massive AA batteries of the ship opened up.

"Targets destroyed, new Neuroi appearing," the reply came.

"Keep firing," he said, watching as wave after wave came out of the huge Neuroi tower-like craft sticking up out of the ground even as he looked on he noticed several witches, a lot more than the two that were launched from the Yamato. He had no idea where they came from, but welcomed the additional forces.

He watched in amazement as so many came out and wondered how so many could fit inside. How large was that Neuroi? Another thought came to him as he watched witches engage the Neuroi.

"Prepare additional ammo belts for the witches," he said, knowing they had a special launcher for the witches. There were so many Neuroi in the sky they were bound to run out of ammo.

The crew continued their high-level of precision making him tremendously proud of them. He watched and listened as the one called Yoshika seemed to rejoin them. He heard a few familiar names, Lynette, Erica and Minna. From he could see there were about a dozen witches in the battle.

"Witch coming over, requesting 57mm mauser belts."

"Go," Aruga said, watching as towards the stern as a special catapult went into action, flinging a box up into the sky. A witch swooped by gathering it up heading back into the battle.

He noticed there seemed to be a lull in the action for a moment as the witches converged together.

"Captain!"

The shocked voice made him concerned as he looked over at where the deck officer pointed. The Neuroi tower was rising into the air. It was a massive ship, even bigger than the Yamato and rose into up giving it a space-ship type appearance. The witches began their attack again.

"Even with their power this one will be tough," the second in command said to him.

Aruga thought about that for a few seconds watching the witches attack doing their best. "Can we hit that?"

"Yeah."

"No, with the main guns," Aruga said, turning to the gunnery officer, who pondered the question.

"I think so, won't be able to destroy it, the Neuroi will regenerate its armor before we can fire again."

"Do it anyways," Aruga said, watching as his second in command looked at him strangely. "We might not be able to fire fast enough, but it could lead to the opening the witches need."

"Oh, right."

The massive turrets swung into place, guns elevated and Aruga held on as the ship shuddered as a broadside was fired. He looked at the Neuroi waiting several seconds before a tremendous explosion occurred. At least a few shells struck their target.

The guns went through the process of reloading even as the witches formed up to attack. He heard the core had been exposed. Even as he watched, the opening presented to the witches did not seem enough as the Neuroi sensing its weakness formed up and poured out a tremendous amount of firepower.

Then one witch went out in front, and activated a tremendous shield. The others lined up behind her and rammed straight into the Neuroi. He held his breath for a few seconds before the massive ship shattered causing him to relax. They had done it.

"Sir, communications with HQ have been restored."

"Tell them what happened, I'll send a report in as soon as possible," Aruga said. His elation was tempered by the fact the Neuroi had crossed the river somehow. "Tell the crew good work, have the AA batteries scan for any lingering Neuroi."

"Yes sir."

Now it was time for mop up operations, and he had no idea how many witches would join the ship. They had to come from somewhere, but pushed that from his mind, and concentrated instead on doing his duty.

Things were about to get interesting.


End file.
